


The Void of What Once Was Between

by In_any_universe_you_are_my_dark_star



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Don't pay any attention to me, Gen, Goodbye., I am more serious when writing I swear, au revoir, cats of kidney, chicken pie., fyi i changed lore a little, heavily botw based, hello., imma go and fly off the edge of a cliff now bai, kidney cats, lore is rooted from all the other games too, reincarnation :)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 17:31:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17854040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/In_any_universe_you_are_my_dark_star/pseuds/In_any_universe_you_are_my_dark_star
Summary: Destruction was everywhere. At the view from the heavens of the Goddess Hylia it was a mess of blood, circuits, red and grey uniforms, but under the huddle of a great tree with a crack down the center of its trunk lay a speck of Champion’s blue, vibrant as the center of a Silent Princess, though in some places stained dark with either mud or blood-- the sins buried in the stains only Hylia could tell.Not one body was it, but two, two rags of blue like dolls a giant child had thrown to the floor when they outlived their use. As they laid there panting, bleeding, dying, they spoke.~*~Years after the near destruction of Hyrule, the world is beginning to reshape itself, gathering its children like lost pieces to a puzzle, unsolved for centuries. Life is peaceful for three children, living in a stable and raised to be helpful, polite, and hardworking.But like the world, these children are still gathering their lost pieces, uprooting a legend centuries old on their journeys to discover just who, or what, they really are.Like the bud of a Silent Princess,Their lives have only just begun.





	The Void of What Once Was Between

**Author's Note:**

> The lore has been changed a little; the Goddess Hylia, rather than reincarnating herself as a mortal, transfers her power to a chosen descendant every so often. She deigns who and when receive the golden power. Several alternate timelines have been blended together (in that I mean characters from other games, such as Majora's Mask or Ocarina of Time, will appear.)
> 
> This has been inspired by Figment Forms: A Tale of Two Rulers comic (amazing, and totally recommended). And yes, I stole a name. Technically it's just a Japanese translation of a Link, but it is also used in A Tale of Two Rulers. I'm putting this here to say no, I'm not trying to filch an entire character/ plot line. This is actually where the similarities end between the two fanworks. Anyways.
> 
> Yes, because dealing with the idea of a Link, Zelda, and Gannon reincarnating, the characters might be a little different than normal. However, I have attempted to craft the reincarnated versions personalities as according to their pieces of the triforce, however badly. I also messed with their appearance. 
> 
> Also, I reincarnated, remodeled, and re branded the Yiga Clan. If you want to stab me go ahead.
> 
> Enjoy. 
> 
> P.S: While the BOTW map is the set for the story, pieces from other games come into play as well. So if it seems heavily BOTW influenced, it is, but hopefully with a kick of extra spice from different games.

The wind blew across a torn and tattered field. Strips of what once used to be battle flags waved in the breeze, red as the crimson shards on Dinraal’s back, and the color of blood. Piles of a meddle of machinery and flesh spotted the Great Plain, metal legs ripped off and in disarray like the limbs of the dead soldiers they had fought.

Destruction was everywhere. At the view from the heavens of the Goddess Hylia it was a mess of blood, circuits, red and grey uniforms, but under the huddle of a great tree with a crack down the center of its trunk lay a speck of Champion’s blue, vibrant as the center of a Silent Princess, though in some places stained dark with either mud or blood-- the sins buried in the stains only Hylia could tell. 

Not one body was it, but two, two rags of blue like dolls a giant child had thrown to the floor when they outlived their use. As they laid there panting, bleeding, dying, they spoke.

“Impa used to sing to me when I was little,” the princess’ breath was labored. “A song- a lullaby.”

The knight lifted his head in pain to look at her, the wise young princess, Zelda. 

“Do you want me to hum it? It- it always helped me--” she gasped in pain. “Always… helped me… fall… asleep.”

Link set his head back down on the blood spattered ground and listened to the peaceful, quiet lullaby. Off in the distance, over the tundra, the Northern Lights rippled green and blue, almost to the tune of Princess Zelda’s quiet humming.

The princess’ notes got lower and the distance between them grew longer.

“Link,” she whimpered, voice giving away into a storm of coughs. “Until the… the…” she coughed again and went limp in Link’s arms, her hand clutching her side. It fell away from her body with red. 

“Until the next,” Link muttered faintly, reaching to close the princess’ still open eyes, until with a cough of his own he fell, the two of them splain on the grass, bodies just the same as the others in the field.

A new spot of crimson spread over the last of the blue. Zelda’s open eyes stared vacantly at the Northern Lights as they faded and the night’s sky gave way to dawn.

Above them, eyes no longer watching her lands, the Goddess began to make herself new dolls.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
In a different universe, the three would always be friends. But there was a rift between them; even now, Rinku could sense it. He wasn’t sure if Zeru did, or even if Chik did. 

Something, Rinku sensed, was different. Even as he trudged through the Great Hyrule Graveyard, he could feel it. All around him were gravestones, and he was only on the edge of the plain, nowhere near the ruins of the castle in the center. 

Legend had it that at least 5 decades ago a battle had taken place here. A great one. Everyone had died- or at least almost everyone- and the exact cause of it was never really agreed upon, so throughout the years the fight was distorted, so that it became a myth, a legend, something almost unreal. 

The idea of someone thinking all these gravestones representing all these people could be fake, that a battle so intense might not be real, boiled Rinku’s insides. He had no idea why it was a subject that made him so passionate, even courageous enough to speak out and correct the adults that came and stayed at the Stable about their beliefs.

Then again, Rinku had always been courageous.  
~*~  
Zeru sat quietly under a tree, waiting for Rinku to return with water. Behind her, she could sense, approached Chik, and her stomach tied itself into a knot. She stood and turned to face the tall boy behind her. 

“Has Rinku come back with the hot water yet? Parcy is getting rather impatient- that horse is about to give birth.” Chik shifted from one foot to another, his red hair getting in his face.

Chik, Zeru, and Rinku had grown up together and known each other for as long as Zeru could remember. But while Zeru and Rinku were both Hylian, and had been dropped off at the stable as babies, Rinku had simply appeared one night, when he was around five, claiming he walked himself all the way to the stable from Gerudo town. 

It didn’t really matter, because Zeru and Rinku treated Chik as a brother no matter what. Zeru and Rinku themselves weren’t siblings-- they thought they weren’t, at least, as they had been left at the stable at different times, but they had the same brown black hair as each other.

But now, Zeru felt something different, inside her, towards Chik. She felt apprehensive, scared, almost, around him. The right word for it was wary, she decided. She found herself worried of things he might do, with such strength as he had, and almost like he might hurt someone.

She didn’t know why-- Chik was always kind to her- to everyone- and hard working. But it was her intuition that was wary of him, and Parcy had once said Zeru had a special kind of intuition.

A kind of wisdom of sorts, though she was only twelve at the time.  
~*~  
“Zeru?” 

“Oh. Chik, sorry, I’ve-” she raised her eyebrows and bit her lip, which Chik knew always meant she was coming up with an excuse, “-been worrying about Rinku. It’s taking awhile, isn’t it?”

Zeru always was quiet, Chik noticed, and always lost in her thoughts. She was… more quiet now, he observed, like something was different. Something was different, he thought morosely. Very different.

“Yes. I hope he’s okay… That graveyard always scares me…” Chik trailed off, looking at the field in the distance. “Remember that time we were playing at night, and Rinku’s horse got spooked and went running, and scared us? I thought it was a Yakedomizu.”

The Yakedo Suru Mizu (Yakedomizu was the way various travelers said it, often bitterly) was a terrorist organization that had been haunting Hyrule for decades. Highly dangerous swordsmen and archers, the Yakedomizu were not to be messed with. Rumor had it they even practiced ancient magic. They had been around so long, no one was even sure what their main goal was other that to antagonize the citizens of the land. 

“Well,” Zeru laughed. “Well, you could take on any Yakedomizu with your strength. You’re really powerful, you know?” And then she seemed on edge. “It’s a good thing you’d never hurt anyone, isn’t it?” Her calm gaze stared into Chik’s eyes, and her quiet steady voice ripped at his lungs.

Chik felt a stab of fear. Had she seen him, acting out in his anger a night ago? He didn’t know why or how he had gotten so mad. Something had happened, he had… remembered something, and without knowing it had hit a tree so hard it cracked the trunk, scaring the stable dog, Sattia, nearby. 

He was about ready to open his mouth and respond when Parcy called him over in her shrill voice.

“Chik! You better get back here! I need more towels!”

 

Chik rolled his eyes. “I have to go. Do me a favor--when Rinku gets here, tell him to get over to Parcy right away so I can be let off the hook, ok?” He walked off, glancing behind only once to see Zeru looking at the rippling Northern Lights off in the distance. 

He stopped for a moment and gazed too, the blue and green sails filling with a sense of serenity, and a want.

A want for more power. 

Parcy called out to him once more, growing more impatient, and he ran off with that filling sense of satisfaction in his gut, and an unsettling feeling that he would soon get what he wanted.  
~*~  
Behind him, Rinku heard a rustle near a gravestone. He was nearer the stable now, could see the lights in the distance. 

“Not funny, Chik, come on out.” He called to the darkness. Another rustle. 

Carefully Rinku grabbed a tree branch and approached the bush, the possible danger of it all filling with him with energizing adrenaline, and the want to move forwards despite the danger- no- for the danger. 

This had happened before, situations like, this, when he felt imbued with courage. The bush quivered, only two inches away from his face. In a split second an animal with fur like Red Chuchu jelly leapt out at him. Rinku jumped away with a start, his heart beating loudly in his ears. 

The animal shook itself off and looked warily at Rinku. Now that it was less of a blur, Rinku could see it was only a grassland fox. 

He knelt down and rustled carefully in his lunch bag, taking a piece of meat from the meal Parcy packed him, and held it out to the fox, keeping his eyes on it the whole time.

The fox sniffed the air suspiciously, and took a wary step towards him.

Yes, closer now, he thought to himself. I won’t hurt you. 

Sometimes it was easier in his own head, thinking like this, than talking. It felt more natural, more comfortable. Make no mistake, he conversated a lot, especially with his friends, but sometimes the peace like this, with only the quiet rustling of grass in the breeze filling his ears, was best. 

The fox took the piece of meat from his hands and looked at him expectantly for more food. Rinku laughed happily. He had always had a way with animals. 

He scooped the fox up with a smile. “Come on, then, Red, you’re going to be my friend now.” He set the fox back down, picked up the water bucket, which was being kept warm with some chuchu jelly and spicy peppers at the bottom of it.*

He walked the rest of the way to the stable, the fox trailing at his heels, nudging them at times.  
~*~  
Zeru saw Rinku’s silhouette in the distance. “Parcy, he’s here!” she called out, and a few seconds later Rinku was there, handing her a fox and carrying the warm water off to Parcy.  
A horses neigh pierced the night, then silence. Zeru slumped tiredly on the trunk of the tree. In the silence, a faint tune came to her mind, buzzing in her head like a courser bee.

It had been stuck in her head for days. For weeks. She couldn’t get it out of her head no matter how hard she tried, and she had tried hard. Even hitting her head against the tree trunk would not get the song out of her head.

Every time she heard it in her head, it made her sleepier, and sleepier, and… sleep-- she yawned and shook herself awake, the fox, a warm sleeping pile next to her, not disturbed.

A few seconds later, Chik came out, spewing a stream of vulgar words he learned from travelers that Zeru pretended she couldn’t hear.

“Stillborn.” Chik rubbed his forehead. “A pretty one, too. Would have been a rich black. Like your hair,” he added. 

Zeru’s mouth flattened into a hard line. “Thank, you Chik, for comparing a dead horse to my hair.”

Chik looked up in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?” and stopped short when he saw that she was, indeed, kidding him. 

“That’s such a shame,” Zeru’s voice was like a quiet hum. “Parcy had such expectations for this one. I’ll be sure to go in in a bit and pray for it.”

Chik sat down, chin on his hand. “Much good that will do now…” he muttered, golden eyes looking at Zeru with an angry, bitter fire in them.

“Everyone goes on that there’s a horse god, but I don't believe it. This wouldn’t happen if there was.” 

Zeru shrugged. “Only trying to help.” She pet the fox quietly, who had awoken to sniff at Chik.

“Rinku tamed another?” Chik nodded at it. 

Zeru hummed in agreement. “Tell me honestly. Parcy was going to sell that horse to buy food for the winter, wasn’t she?”

Chik blinked in agreement. “With Winter coming, travelers are few, and business is slow. We’re going to have to go hunting. But if we don’t get anything--”

Zeru sighed. “Let’s just hope Rinku doesn’t get too close to this one.” The fox climbed quietly into Chik’s lap, and he grinned.

“Rinku might only be half the problem this time.” 

Zeru laughed, a loud, wholesome laugh. Chik looked at her through his honey colored eyes and felt like laughing too, her voice was so mellifluous. 

Zeru turned and caught him staring at her and blushed a little before pointing to the Hebra mountains. “Better look quickly. It’s fading.” 

A few seconds later, dawn had broken, and the northern lights faded into nothingness.

**Author's Note:**

> *obviously not an in game mechanic. But who cares. I don't. Do you?


End file.
